Hible Societies. 


AN 


eR 


BEFORE THE 


World's Congress of Missions, 
an 
CHICAGO, 
SEPTEMBER 20th, 1893, 
By THE 
Rev, Albert S. Hunt, 2.4H., 


Coresponding Secretary 


OF THE 


AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 


BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 
1893. 








BIBLE SOCIETIES. 








Long before the opening of the nineteenth century 
we find Societies, which, in connection with their 
other lines of work, to a very limited extent, pub- 
lished and circulated the Holy Scriptures. There 
were also Societies which, though making Bible dis- 
tribution their only work, confined their efforts to 
certain classes of the community, as soldiers and 
sailors, or to persons of a single nationality. But not 
until the 7th of March, 1804 was an organization 
formed which made the circulation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures its sole object, and the entire world its field. 
The institution of the British and Foreign Bible Soci- 
ety eighty-nine years ago awakened the most profound 
interest in both hemispheres. Before twelve years 
had elapsed Bible Societies were in active operation 
in Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hol- 
land, Switzerland, Saxony, Prussia, and Russia, as 
well as in India and North America. 


FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 


The American Bible Society was founded in New 
York in the year 1816 by sixty delegates from thirty- 
five local Bible societies, which had been formed in 


4 


various parts of the United States during the eight 
years immediately preceding. Serious embarrass- 
ment was experienced in conducting the work of so 
many distinct organizations, and a wise economy of 
expenditure was found to be impossible without some 
general oversight. Extensive interchange of views 
on the part of many leading men, in Church and State, 
resulted in the calling of a convention which, with 
great unanimity, decided to organize a national insti- 
tution upon a foundation substantially the same as 
that of the British and Foreign Bible Society, nam- 
ing as its field not only the United States and their 
Territories, but other countries also, whether Chris- 
tian, Mohammedan, or Pagan. 


THE MOST STRIKING CHARACTERISTIC, 


The Constitution of the British and Foreign Bible 
Society declares that its “sole object shall be to en- 
courage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures 
without note or comment.” The same words are em- 
bodied in the Constitution of the American Bible 
Society, and they set forth the most striking charac- 
teristic of all true Bible Societies. They are institu- 
tions which devote no time to formulating creeds, or- 
daining preachers, establishing schools, or founding 
churches, but they offer to men of every clime the one 
Inspired Book without whose revelation creeds are 
void, preachers without a living message, schools 


5 


without true wisdom, and churches without saving 
power. 


BIBLE SOCIETIES UNDENOMINATIONAL, 


It is well for us to note, still further, that while Mis- 
sionary Societies are for the most part denomina- 
tional, Bible Societies were founded and are main- 
tained by the co-operation of Christians identified 
with various branches of the Church. The Bible 
Society is not an Evangelical Alliance, using that 
term in the received sense, but it may well be 
questioned whether the Evangelical Alliance could 
have been formed in 1846 if Bible Societies had not, 
for forty years, given impressive proof that it is quite 
practicable for Christians of different names to labor 
together on the most cordial terms with the most 
satisfactory results. The Rev. John Owen, one of the 
founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society and 
one of its first secretaries, says that “ Christians had 
been taught to regard each other with a kind of pious 
estrangement or rather with consecrated hostility,” 
The scene in the convention which formed the Brit- 
ish and Foreign Bible Society seemed strange 
to him, and indicated the dawn of a new era in 
Christendom. The published accounts of Bible meet- 
ings for the first forty years of the century rarely fail 
to emphasize the fact that men of different denomi- 
nations have met together upon the broad platform 


6 


which the Bible Society afforded, and as Christian 
workers have actually rejoiced together with great 
joy. To our generation this seems so natural and 
proper that we wonder how our fathers could have 
regarded it wonderful. 


THEN AND NOW. 

When the British and Foreign Bible Society was 
formed the Bible had been translated into less than 
forty languages. Several versions were obsolete 
and others demanded revision. Then too, the Bible 
was so costly that its possession was quite beyond 
the reach of the poor. No one dreamed that each 
person could ever acquire a copy of his own. The 
Bible Society began to multiply versions, to publish 
volumes of the Scriptures by tens of thousands, and 
to supply them to the various peoples of the earth 
at nominal prices, or even without price. This work 
has expanded from year to year, and especially dur- 
iug the past twenty years, until the Scriptures have 
been issued in nearly 400 languages or dialects, and 
until the Bible, in all parts of the world, is the cheap- 
est of all books. 

TOTAL ISSUES. 

The total issues of Bible Societies thus far, ex- 
ceed the most enthusiastic anticipations of their 
founders. The British and_Foreign Bible Society 
has issued more than one hundred and thirty-five 


7 


millions of volumes; the American Bible Society 
nearly fifty-seven millions ; and the Bible Society of 
Scotland more than thirteen millions, making an 
aggregate for the three leading Bible societies of the 
world of (206,201,404) two hundred and six millions 
two hundred and one thousand four hundred and 
four volumes. There are nine other societies which 
have issued each less than five million volumes, but 
more than one million, nine which have issued each 
less than one million volumes, but more than half a 
million; nine others which have issued each less than 
half a million but more than two hundred thousand 
volumes. Here then are thirty Bible Societies whose 
aggregate circulation amounts to (240,955,447) two 
hundred and forty millions nine hundred and fifty-five 
thousand four hundred and forty-seven volumes. It 
should, however, be noted, that more than four-fifths 
of this immense number have been issued by the British 
and Foreign and the American Societies. How impos- 
sible it is for the human mind to compass the stupen- 
dous results of such a work! What multitudes of 
wanderers have been reclaimed, and of mourners 
comforted in all parts of the habitable globe by these 
two hundred and forty millions of inspired volumes ! 


TWO DEPARTMENTS—HOME AND FOREIGN. 


The practical operations of a great Bible Society 
are naturally divided into two departments—the 


8 


home and foreign. It would be easy for me to 
use the entire time allotted to me in speaking of the 
magnificent work of the British and Foreign Society. 
I know of nothing in the form of organized Christian 
effort which equals the breadth of its plans or the 
moral grandeur of its achievements, but my duty to- 
day is chiefly to illustrate the principles which lie at 
the foundation of all Bible Society effort, and I may 
be permitted to do so by glancing at the operations 
of the Society with which I am most familiar. 

The home field of the American Bible Society 
embraces every State and Territory of the Union. 
Nearly two thousand auxiliary societies give direction 
to the work in their respective fields, which generally 
cover a single county, though there are a few town- 
ship, and a still smaller number of State societies. 
It will be observed that in many portions of the 
country, especially on the frontier, the population is 
so sparse that it is impracticable to organize and 
conduct efficient auxiliaries. The Parent Society has, 
therefore, found it necessary to adopt a system of 
colportage. Millions of scattered families have thus 
been supplied with the Scriptures during the past ten 
years. The Society has during its history, through 
various agencies, distributed in the United States 
more than forty millions of volumes of the inspired 
word. A complete statement concerning the work 
of the Society in the home field would demand refer- 


9 


ence to the supply of mission Sabbath schools, to dis- 
tribution in the United States army and navy, espe- 
cially during the civil war; to the supply of seamen 
visiting our ports ; of humane and criminal institutions; 
of the freedmen; and above all, of immigrants from 
many lands, upon whom the Scriptures are bestowed 
as soon as they set foot upon our shores. 


CO-OPERATION WITH FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES, 


Turning to speak of the foreign work of the Soci- 
ety it must first be stated that its settled policy is to 
co-operate, as far as may be, with the Foreign Mission- 
ary Societies of the various Christian denominations. 
Before a Congress of Missions it may be well briefly 
to show how closely Missionary and Bible Societies are 
allied. The only publication of a Bible Society is the 
Bible, or portions of the Bible, and translations must 
be made into many languages. The scholarship of 
Harvard, or Yale, or Columbia, or any other Univers- 
ity, is not equal to this service. It can be rendered 
only by the missionary who has labored among the 
people for whom the Bible is to be translated. In 
many cases he must construct a language. Listening 
with tireless patience to rude speech, he devises written 
characters, then produces a grammar, a dictionary, and 
at length a version of the Bible. By way of illustration 
let me refer to the translation of the Bible for the Gil- 
bert Islanders, completed in April last, after thirty-four 


Io 


years of labor, by the Rev. Hiram Bingham. This 
translation was made from the original tongues into a 
language which he had himself reduced to writing, and 
for which he had constructed a grammar and collected 
a vocabulary. I have been the more ready to name 
this instance, because it illustrates the vital rela- 
tionship which exists between Missionary and Bible 
Societies. The Gilbert Islands are under the mission- 
ary oversight of Christians from the Sandwich Islands 
and Samoa, which only a few years ago were them- 
selves in the depths of spiritual darkness. The story 
of the Sandwich Islands is too familiar to require repeti- 
tion. Of Samoa, it may besimply stated that when John 
Williams first visited it in 1830, he found the people 
in the lowest state of degradation. They were with- 
out any knowledge of a written language, and_ the 
most debased and sanguinary rites characterized their 
system of paganism. Like the Sandwich Islands, 
Samoa received a written language and a translation 
of the Bible, and like them also, it is now sending 
Christian missionaries to other lands. Bible Societies, 
it is well known, are constantly making appropriations 
of funds to aid in defraying the expenses of trans- 
lations made by missionaries. 

The co-operation of Missionary and Bible Societies 
is also seen in the employment of mission presses for 
printing the Bible. Many editions of the Scriptures 
in Arabic and in Chinese, for instance, have been 


II 


printed for the American Bible Society upon the 
mission presses at Beirut, Shanghai, Foochow, and 
Peking. ‘a 

Still further: The Scriptures, being translated and 
printed, must be distributed. The American Bible 
Society has a corps of more than three hundred col- 
porteurs in the foreign field, and these are members 
of the mission churches, nominated for this important 
service by those under whose ministry they have been 
converted. 

The American Bible Society conducted its work in 
foreign lands, for many years, through the Missionary 
Societies, but its enlargement called, at length, for 
the appointment of agents of its own. In 1875 it had 
one agent on the eastern continent and one on the 
western. Now, so rapid has been the growth of its 
operations, there are six on each continent. The 
scope of my address forbids details. Omitting all ref- 
erence to the interesting and fruitful fields of the 
Society in Europe, Asia, and Africa, it will not be re- 
garded as inappropriate, before a Congress met under 
Columbian auspices, to turn for a moment to Latin 
America. 


“WORK OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY IN LATIN 
AMERICA, 


As early as 1818 the Society printed the New Testa- 
ment in Spanish, and finding all existing versions 


I2 


unsatisfactory—that of Valera being many years older 
than the authorized English version—the Society, in 
order to meet the wants of sixty millions of Spanish- 
speaking people, has recently produced, at great ex- 
pense, an entirely new version of the Bible from the 
original tongues. Tours of exploration have been 
made again and again by the Society’s representatives, 
and its duly appointed agents are now to be found in 
the valley of the La Plata, in Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, 
Central America, Mexico, and Cuba. During the past 
ten years 540,000 volumes have been sent from the 
Bible House, in New York, to these fields. 

Another characteristic of Bible Societies ought 
now to be named. 


PIONEER SERVICE. 


They are especially to be prized, because of their 
fitness for pioneer service. They bear the message 
of salvation to places beyond the reach, or at least 
the easy reach, of the living missionary. There are por- 
tions of the world where the representatives of the Mis- 
sionary Society would not be received—might even be 
scornfully rejected—but where the voiceless ministry 
ofa printed Gospel findsa welcome. Inthe very heart 
of China, of Japan, of Turkey, of Mexico, of Brazil, 
indeed, in every quarter of the globe, churches now 
flourish, as centers of light, which trace their origin to 
the silent but potent influence of single volumes, 


13 


or even single pages, of the oracles of God. This 
statement is abundantly sustained by the correspond- 
ence of missionaries. Tonameasingleinstance. The 
Rev. W. D. Powell, a missionary of the Baptist de- 
nomination in Mexico, writes to the Agent of the 
American Bible Society: “I appreciate most heartily 
the work done by your noble Society in this republic. 
It has been the foundation and bulwark of all other 
evangelical effort. I have often been where the peo- 
ple had never seen a missionary of any other denom- 
ination, but I have never been where the colporteur 
of the American Bible Society was unknown.”’ 


THE WORK OF BIBLE SOCIETIES WILL ALWAYS BE 


NEEDED, 


Once more: Bible Societies not only go before but 
they follow after. They are charged with a specific 
commission, which calls for the most earnest ser- 
vice when the efforts of Missionary Societies are 
no longer required. Missionaries bear the mes- 
sage of life to heathen lands. They construct, it 
may be, a written language, and enrich it by a 
translation of the Bible. The inspired book is 
widely circulated. Converts are multiplied, and in 
due time native Christians are fully able to conduct 
the enterprises of the church. The Missionary 
Society is then free to withdraw its representatives 
from a field where their very success renders them 


14 


no longer useful. The retirement of the missionary 
does not, however, diminish the demand for the Scrip- 
tures. On the contrary, the larger the number of 
persons, in any country, who believe that the prom- 
ises and precepts of the Bible are inspired of God, 
the more imperative will be the call for the specific 
efforts of the Bible Society. Witness the in:mense 
circulation of the Scriptures in Great Britain and the 
United States. 


CONCLUSION. 


But I must hasten. In concluding, permit me to 
emphasize the fact that the founders of Bible So- 
cieties were men who had tested the Bible for them- 
selves, and knew that it was what it claimed to be, a 
perfectly unique book, bearing a message of salvation 
to individual sinners. In this faith their successors 
have continued to labor until this day. The history of 
Bible distribution in all lands is replete with evidence 
that the word of God is still, as it ever has been, a 
word of saving power. Diaz, the apostle of Cuba, 
assures us that when, through various kindly minis- 
tries, he became the possessor of a Spanish Bible, 
the simple narrative of the young man who was 
born blind led him to the Saviour. The passage, 
“God so loved the world that he gave his only be- 
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish but have everlasting life,” has proved to 


T5 


be a mighty spiritual force. The violence of a mob 
in a Brazilian town was recently quelled, we are told, 
under the influence of its strange power. To Neesima, 
of Japan, as he spelled out the meaning of the verse ina 
Chinese Testament for which he had exchanged his 
short sword, it opened a new and wonderful world of 
light. Bishop Corrie, of Madras, tells us of a Brahmin 
to whom the same words brought salvation, and an- 
other missionary in India, tells of their power over an 
ignorant woman of the lowest caste, so that we have 
the clearest proof of the adaptation of the Inspired 
Word to the wants of sinners with or without culture, 
with or without rank. The Bible is full of this 
power because it is full of Christ. Professor Monier 
Williams, of Oxford, in addressing a company of 
young men about to enter the foreign missionary 
service, states the matter in terse and forcible terms 
when he exalts the Bible because it affirms of the 
Founder of Christianity that, “ He, a sinless Man, was 
made sin; and that “ He, a dead and buried Man, 
was made life.’ So long as the Bible contains these 
truths, Bible Societies will continue to disseminate 
them among all the ‘“‘tribes and peoples and 
tongues” of the wide world. 








